IN THE SWIM

"Renewal of University swimming team planned". And judging from the numbers that have signed the blue books, there is a decided interest in the idea. But a swimming team under present conditions would stand as much chance in a contest as "Dan'I Webster"--Mark Twain's prize frog.--after being forced to swallow lead. With no adequate pool in the University the candidates will have to go to the Y. M. C. A. tank in Boston and even there, unless present arrangements are changed, the only available time for practice will be during the supper hour. That a representative team can be developed under these circumstances which are, if anything, more unfavorable than ever, seems almost out of the question.

Yet, team or no team, the present activity ought not to be stopped. It is the expression of a strong desire on the part of the undergraduates for organized swimming. When Columbia and Brown universities go so far as to require a test of proficiency in the water before granting a degree, Harvard should act at least to the extent of giving swimming its proper place among the sports. This can be done only by providing swimming with facilities at the University on a par at least with the present equipment of every other form of athletics.